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WHO IS COLONEL JENNISON? 



Jennison— His Raids in Missouri—His Murders, Robberies, and House 

Burnings. 

We do not propose to do anything more than call the attention of 
the whole country to the exposition of the acts of Jennison, for more 
than a year past, contained in the article below. We may particularly 
call the attention of the President to this communication, and if he 
desires information as to the writer, we refer him to Mr. Bates, his 
Attorney General. That gentleman, we venture to say, will give hmi 
his full indorsement. Mr. Bingham is the .Treasurer of the State of 
Missouri, selected by Gov. Gamble for his honesty and his fidelity to 
the Union. The record of Jennison 's crimes is such as to place him 
far in advance of all those bad men who have figured in this civil war 
on either side ; and we cannot but pity those citizens of St. Louis who 
have been seduced, by desperate demagogues, into a public exhibition 
of sympathy for him. Their mortification must be sufficiently great 
without further allusion to it. 



Editor of the Eepublican : Having observed, to my surprise, an 
article in the Ilissouri Democrat, lauding the notorious Jennison, and 
denouncing his arrest, as having been caused by the malignity of Seces- 
sionists and ultra pro-slavery men, I was naturally led to suppose that 
the editors of a journal so respectable, had been incautiously misled by 
misrepresentations from partial and interested sources, and I addressed 
them a communication, requesting its insertion in their paper, that jus- 
tice might be done to truly loyal citizens in the western portion of our 
State, and our noble cause relieved from the odium which identifica- 
tion, in any manner, Avith characters so utterly depraved as those of 
this Jennison, and a large portion of his associates, must necessarily 
bring upon it. 

They have, up to this time, omitted to place my communication be- 
fore their readers, and I am compelled, in order to vindicate my neigh- 
bors, wlio have /vrojo^r/y condemned the outrages of this brigand, to 
reach the public through some other channel — regretting that there 
should be found a paper within the limits of our suffering State, whose 
columns are not open to such a purpose. 



s^ 



A brief narrative of transactions, in wliich he has figured as princi- 
pal since the commencement of the civil strife in our State, will show 
that there is nothing in his conduct or character which can entitle him 
to the respect or sympathy of honorable men. On the contrary, his 
gross abuse of power, exhibited in low acts of oppression against de- 
fenseless individuals, and the plunder and desolation of entire commu- 
nities, has been such as should impel good citizens everywhere to unite 
in invoking against him the punishment due to a felon. 

Several of his band of jayhawkers made their appearance in the vi- 
cinity of Kansas City, early in last June, and were observed skulking 
about the pickets of the United States troops, then temporarily stationed 
there, under the command of Captain (now Major) Prince. 

This discreet officer, justly suspecting the purpose of their mission 
to be none other than pillage, peremptorily ordered them beyond the 
limits of our State. Although reluctantly compelled to heed this man- 
date, at the time, they held themselves in readiness to renew their 
visit, as soon as a favorable opportunity should be presented, and 
after the withdrawal of the troops under Major Prince, they again en- 
tered Missouri. They were led, on this occasion, by their chief, Jen- 
nison, in person, and, unfortunately for the honor of our arms, were 
associated with Major Van Horn and Col, Weir, in their expedition 
against a formidable rebel force, assembled at Harrisonville, in Cass 
county. Colonel Weir, by virtue of his rank, was in command of the 
Union forces, and should be chiefly held responsible for the unbridled 
license which was given to the rapacity of these irregular and lawless 
attaches of his command. They were permitted to invade the sanctity 
of private dwellings, and to break open the stores of the merchants of 
the place, whose goods they transported, in large quantities, to the 
State of Kansas. These robberies inaugurated that infernal system of 
predatory warfare which has since desolated the fairest portion of our 
State. Had the evils of such a system been visited only upon those 
who participated in the robbery of the Arsenal at Liberty, and the 
public stores in Kansas City, or those who counseled and encour- 
aged such outrages, they might be regarged as a proper retribution, 
and cause but little regret in the minds of just persons ; but in their 
widely extended scope, they have embraced entire communities, involv- 
ing innocent and guilty alike in a common ruin. 

After these infamous transactions at Harrisonville, this chief of thieves 
was next heard of as having, by some unknown influence brought to 
bear in high quarters, obtained a commission to raise a regiment of 
mounted volunteers for the service of the United States. As might 
have been foreseen, scoundrels from all quarters flocked to his standard, 
as naturally as buzzards collect around their favorite carrion. His re- 
cruits were such as had no scruples in furnishing themselves with horses 
from the stables of our citizens, without money, without price, and 
equally without leave. The self-sustaining regiment, as it was ominously 
christened, was soon equipped for the field, and its elated commander, 
as much surprised, perhaps, as others, at an elevation so different from 
his deserts, impatiently awaited the first favorable pretext which could 
serve as a plausible excuse for a descent into our State. As such a 



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pretext was not long wanting, he soon came, pompously marching his 
forces in extended files through the streets of Kansas City, 

"A thousand men to plunder trained." 

The signs of his diabolical purposes were so ostentatiously exhibited 
that no cheers greeted the imposing array, nor from house top or bal- 
cony was there any joyous waving of that glorious star spangled ban- 
ner, which he came to dishonor. 

Conspicuously marching in his regiment, teas a company composed ex- 
clusively of negroes, armed, uniformed, and mounted as soldiers of the 
Uniicd States. This, and other signs equally significant, indicated a 
John Brown raid, rather than the march of loyal troops to uphold the 
Constitution and laws, in pursuance of which that infatuated man 
perished on the gallows. The ostensible purpose of his visit was to 
extirpate, as he vauntingly boasted, the rebel Hays, who, with about 
one hundred and fift}'- followers, lay encamped about fifteen miles from 
Kansas City. Evidently fancying an easy task before him, he imme- 
diately put forward several companies of his regiment to kill, capture, 
or drfVe him from the country. The rebel leader, however, proved to 
be a desperate and resolute foe ; or, perhaps, he had lived long enough 
among thieves to form a due estimate of their fighting qualities ; but 
whether relying upon his own courage, or the cowardice of his assail- 
ant, he met his attack without flinching, and, after a sharp conflict, 
drove him back, with the loss of seven or eight men left dead upon 
the field. 

This first rather severe experience which attended the military com- 
mand of the Jayhawker, seemed to have pretty much the same effect 
upon his nerves that the first burning has upon those of a child, and 
he thenceforward took care to confine himself to such portions of Jack- 
son county as abounded more in cattle, horses, mules, and negroes, than 
rebels. He excuses himself for this cowardice before honest Germans, 
in St. Louis, by afiirming that Hays persistently refused to come out 
of the brush and fight him on the open field. But these Germans lack 
the ordinary shrewdness and intelligence of their nation if they can 
be made to believe that the soil of Jackson county grows brush of a 
nature so very peculiar as to be 2^enelrable to rebels and impenetrable to 
loyal soldiers, whose duty it is to pursue and exterminate them. Nor 
are they likely to regard the man, who, Avith a vastly superior force, 
has not courage enougli to face a feeble enemy in the brush, as the right 
sort of a person to be sent to maintain the cause of our Union in a 
brushy country. The truth is, no man can be found who is more fa- 
miliar with brush than Jennison, and there is none thick enough to 
turn him, if booty, instead of danger, is to be found therein. For pur- 
poses of plunder, he would penetrate a thicket of osage oranges, 
through which a frightened hare would scarcely be able to squeeze 
himself, and he really did go into the brush after Hays, but like a rat 
finding a weazel at the bottom of his hole, he came out a great deal 
faster than he went in. 

After his disgraceful repulse by the rebel and his handful of follow- 
ers, he gave up all idea of service such as becomes a soldier, and turned 



tis attention- exclusively to rapine and'arson. As Independence, both 
on account of the wealth and defenseless condition of its inhabitants, 
presented a tempting field for operations of this nature, he soon took 
np his line of march in that direction. Many chaste and beautiful cot- 
tages, in harmony with the general improvement of the country, had 
been erected on each side of the. way from Kansas City thitherward. 
These, with few-exceptions, he first plundered and then burned to the 
ground, regardless of the wails and shrieks of women and children> 
thus deprived of clothing, bedding, and shelter. I passed along this 
road shortly thereafter, and felt as if I were traveling in the wake of 
the arch fiend of desolation. 

As he approached the city, he sent forward detachments, which en- 
tirely surrounded it, and closed up all the avenues of escape. They 
then converged toward the center, driving all the adult male inhabi- 
tants before them, until they were prisoners within the railing which 
'surrounds the Court House. Such as did not move forward with suf-^ 
ficient alacrity to please their t.ormentors had their celerity quickened 
by the rap of a sword or the prick of a bayonet, A Mr. Cogswell, a 
highly respected merchant of the place, and known as a constant and 
unwavering Union man, was severely beaten over the shoulders be- 
cause he was reluctant to leave his store, until he had fastened the door 
and closed the shutters. While the male inhabitants (Union men and 
■secessionists) were thus imprisoned under a strong guard, such portions 
of the regiment as could be spared from this duty, and especially the 
negro portion, were busily engaged in ransacking private dwellings 
and seizing whatever pleased their fancy or excited their cupidity. 

Watches and jewelry were pounced upon with the greatest avidity; 
but they were by no means disposed to slight other articles of value. 
Finely wrought bed quilts, scarfs, and silk dresses, were appropriated 
without hesitation, and such of their owners as ventured to remon- 
strate, were silenced by abuse, abounding with the most foul and ob- 
scene epithets. All slaves, who by threats, promises or cajolery of 
any kind, could be induced to desert their owners, were furnished with 
escorts to Kansas, and such wagons and carriages as happened to be 
most convenient were seized to give them easy and comfortable trans- 
portation thither. 

During the subsequent continuance of this .brute in the vicinity of 
Kansas City, he and his regiment were regarded by all right-minded 
citizens as a curse to the place — destroying its commerce, plundering 
its stores, and outraging, in every possible manner, the feelings of its 
inhabitants. Dry goods, groceries, and drugs were forcibly taken, in 
large quantities, from dealers, and removed, by wagon loads, to the 
State of Kansas. !>[ules, horses, and wagons of farmers, venturing to 
town on business, were frequently seized and sent in the same direc- 
tion. Honest, industrious laboring men from the country were some- 
times halted at mid-day, and their pockets rilled by soldiers, grown so 
shameless by license that they took no pains to hide such robberies 
from public observation. la the presence of these miscreants, life was 
scarcely more secure than property. They murdered two of the citi- 
zens of Kansas City. One ibll by their hands without having given 



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the "slightest provocation. The other was shot in an altercation grow- 
ing out of his very proper refusal to supply his murderer with liquor. 
Neither of the men thus slain had embraced the heresy of secession, 
and the first was deservedly popular with all classes for his habitual 
good nature and unusually accommodating disposition. The shooting 
of two dogs in the street would usually have elicited more attention 
than the murder of these Union citizens I'cceived from Jennison.- 

As the bandage, at length, is being removed from the eyes of justice, 
and as she seems somewhat inclined, after her long and singular for- 
bearance, to look after this criminal, he feels that he may stand in need 
of friends in the vicinity of her dreaded bar, and endeavors, by shallow 
attempts at flattery, to worm himself into the favor of the honest Ger- 
man population of St. Louis. In painful truth I can tell them, how- 
ever, that the dwelling which, from all others, in Kansas City, was 
singled out by his armed plunderers, and burned to the ground, was 
that of a worthy German citizen, who was shouldering his rifle in de- 
fense of our Union, while Jennison was standing aloof, undecided as to 
whether he could steal, murder, and burn most securely on his own 
hook, or under the desecrated Hag of the United States. As this Ger- 
man soldier was a member of my own corapan}^ as well as a wortliy 
man, I gave Colonel Jennison official information of the wanton des- 
truction of his property by the soldiers of his command. He took no 
steps, however, to bring the guilty parties to justice, or to give redress 
to the loyal German, thus ruthlessly stripped of his entire earthly pos- 
sessions. On a subsequent occasion one of his rascals twice presented 
a pistol at my own breast, because I interposed and prevented him 
from taking the life of a quiet German citizen, whom he was pursuing 
in the mere wantonness of a fiendish desire to imbrue his hands in 
blood. With such facts as these before them, the worthy Germans of 
St. Louis can place a proper estimate upon the special consideration 
with which the wily freebooter now favors them. Knowing that this 
loyal people are sincerely averse to slavery, he loses nothing in their 
presence by simply declaring himself an Abolitionist; but he takes 
care not to go to the full length of the truth by avowing himself a 
tiegro thiej\ as he did while surrounded by his minions in Kansas City. 
i As a law-abiding people, they must perceive the vast difference between 
emancipation, as urged b^^Vashington, Franklin, Jefferson, Randolph, 
Clay, and Lincoln, in harmony with constitutions and laws, and the 
reckless upheaving of society by J:hn Brown raids, in contempt of the 
Government which their countrymen are so gallantly fighting to main- 
tain. 

Aside from his open and undisguised patronage of theft, robbery and 
murder, this Jennison has condescended to acts of petty tyranny, such 
as could be suggested only by the lowest depravity. Three respect- 
able citizens of Kansas City were peremptorily summoned to his pres- 
ence early one morning. Without alleging anything to their charge, 
he compelled two of them to accompany his foraging wagons to the 
country and assist in the pillage of their neighbors. He placed the 
other under a guard of negro soldiers, and forced him, in that con- 
ditioo^ to perform the duti^ of a nieuial. These gentlemeu had theo- 



retically favored secession, but after the commencement of tlie hos- 
tilities they stood aloof from the rebellion, giving neither aid nor com- 
fort to the enemy. One of them, indeed, had zealously urged his 
friends to take vip arms in bclialf of our Government, After he had 
been withdrawn from Jackson coitnty, to the great joy of its people, 
he was ordered by General Hunter to proceed with. his regiment to 
West Point, in Bates count3^ 

In obeying this order, he maliciously diverged from his direct course, 
taking Kansas City and Independence in his route. While halting in 
the former place, he employed a number of teamsters, whom he agreed 
to pay liberally for their services at the termination of his march. 
After reaching West Point, he called them into his presence and ques- 
tioned each as to his place of residence. Those whom he thus ascer- 
tained to be citizens of the State of Kansas were paid according to 
agreement, but he denounced the poor Missourians in bitter, coarse, 
and insulting language, and drove them from his quarters without 
money or scrip. Astonished at this novel mode of liquidating such 
obligations, and supposing their loyalty had been impugned, they of- 
fered to establish it by indubitable evidence from his own regiment ; 
but he blasphemously replied, tliat he luould not take the word of God 
Ahnighty h/'mself in their behalf. 

These teamsters, and others, report that his entire route from Inde- 
pendence to West Point may be traced by the ruins of the dwellings 
of our citizens, which were pillaged and burned without discrimination 
or mercy. As they were generally constructed of wood, they are now 
but heaps of ashes, above which the tall chimneys remain in their 
mute solitude — sad and mournful monuments, such as none in whose 
breasts linger a feeling of humanity, can contemplate unmoved. 

The Democrat publishes a proclamation put forth by Jennison on 
entering our State, and calls attention to it as the only one issued by 
him during his rule of ruin in Jackson county. In this, the editors 
have been grossly deceivody as in other more important matters. Their 
hero was as prolific in proclamations as the most renowned of his 
cotemporaries. These documents, however, were not near so remark- 
able for their clearness as for their multiplicity. Still, it could be seen, 
from tlieir general drift, that their " promises to the ear" were intended 
to have a sufficient margin, outside, for their breakage " in the deed." 
When critically examined, no citizen could claim security under them 
who was not actually bearing arms in defense of our Government. 
All others were denounced as having " no rights which Union soldiers 
were bound to respect." Their enforcement in Massachusetts, or any 
other Northern State, even at this time, would leave nine-tenths of 
their inhabitants subject to all the outrages Avhich he visited upon the 
defenseless people of Jackson county. No honest property holder 
felt secure in his vicinity. Rogues, house-burners, murderers, or the 
fawning sycophants who lauded his infamous deeds, could alone find 
shelter under his mantle. Except in the immediate vicinity of the 
rebel Hays, all parts of the country were ransacked and plundered by 
his men, and other equally rapacious cut-throats, by whom he was 
perpetually surrounded. Between these and the rebels, scarcely a 



Z./J/ 



farmer escaped. Many were stripped of everything. Mules, horses, 
cattle, sheep, hogs, wagons, carriages, buggies, household and kitchen 
furniture, and every species of portable property were transferred to 
the State of Kansas. Tlie refuse of this wholesale and indiscriminate 
spoliation, as I was credibly informed, was subsequently sold privately 
by this Jennison, at his residence, near Squiresville. It is an insult to 
common sense to affirm that this property of our citizens was confis- 
cated. It was simply taken by force, without privilege of trial or 
defense on the part of its owners. The ex jiarte statements of the 
negroes, or of white persons infinitely more degraded, were invariably 
held as sufficient to warrant these illegal seizures. 

I have no old prejudices against this man. It is well known that I 
warmly sympathized with the people of Kansas, against citizens of my 
own State, in the " border ruffian " warfare of '56. Nor can it be 
affirmed that I am an ultra pro-slavery man, since I have all my life 
htld to the principles of our old AVhig leader upon this vexed ques- 
tion. My position in relation to the rebellion is equally well known. 
I foresaw its approach for years, and denounced those who were wick- 
edly conspiring to bring it upon our country. When at length it came 
I was not found occupying a neutral position between it and my Gov- 
ernment, but prompted alike by my feelings and judgment, I united 
with my few neighbors, alike loyal to the old flag, and took up arms 
in its defense, months before Jennison availed himself of its cover for 
purposes of pillage, rapine, and murder. He has rendered our Gov- 
ernment no service; but with an ample force at his command, has 
skulked from 'duty in the face of its armed enemies, preferring, wolf- 
like, to gratify his vengeance and rapacity upon the weak and defense- 
less. He now affects the melting mood and is said to shed tears ; but 
the heart-rending cries of women and children around dwellings con- 
sumed to ashes by his orders, were never known to bring moisture to 
his eyelids. By the perpetration of these atrocities unknown to civi- 
lized warfare, and the prostitution of his power to the lowest and most 
sordid ends, he has given force and plausibility to the most virulent 
slanders of our enemies, and thus, so far as he can be considered the 
representative of our cause, has brought upon it shame and dishonor 
only. It is for the g«ati:^tion, therefore, of no " secession or pro- 
slavery malice," but for the proper vindication of the suffering cause 
of our Union, that the truly loyal men of our border counties invoke 
justice against the man wiio has practically been its most deadly as 
well as most treacherous foe. 

Kespectfully, G. C. BINGHAM. 

Jefferson City, May 6, 1862. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 703 836 5 



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013 703 836 



Hollinger 
pH8.5 
Mill Run F3-19i 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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Hollinger 

pH8.5 

Mill Run F3.1955 



